Memory cards

ksmattfish · Jul 3, 2007

Put all the eggs in one basket, because it's easier to protect/keep track of one basket, or divide the eggs between several small baskets in case one is damaged or lost? I can see how each strategy might be advantageous depending on different situations. I've decided that I'm a lot more worried about losing a card, than having a card fail. I figure the more cards I handle the better my chances are of misplacing one.

I started out with a half dozen 1gb cards which would each hold approx 100 raw files from my 20D. Then I bought a few 2gb cards, and getting 200 shots to a card was nice. Then I bought a 5D, and all of a sudden it was like using rolls of film the cards filled up so fast

. I bought a couple of 8gb cards which I get almost 500 5D raw files on, and I love it! I'm shooting weddings with a couple of 20Ds loaded with 2gb and 4gb cards, and a 5D with an 8gb card, and I usually don't have to change a card all day.

ShaCow · Jul 4, 2007

I prefer to use a larger card because im kinda useless when it comes to remembering where ive put things... and the last thing I want to do it loose my photos again....
I use a 256mb (got it free from canon

)
A 1gb (got it free from jessops

)
and a 4gb sandisk extreme iv which I got off ebay dirt cheap hehe

I think its personal preference at the end of the day.. but I do think its cheaper to buy say several 4gb cards then it is to by the same in 1gb cards.

jstuedle · Jul 4, 2007

As I mentioned in another thread, I have had 2 cards fail in the last 7-8 years. I currently prefer to use 1 gig cards instead of larger cards for this reason . Just be aware, eventually all things fail. Memory cards are rated per the number of write cycles, they don't last forever.

S2K1 · Jul 8, 2007

I currently have 3 x 2GB Cards and a 512MB(bought in '99 and still kicking). I think 2GB is as large as I want to go. I usually don't use up a single 2GB card in a shoot, but 1GB wouldn't be enough so it works out. I did manage to go through all the cards in a weekend once.

darich · Jul 8, 2007

jstuedle said:
As I mentioned in another thread, I have had 2 cards fail in the last 7-8 years.

I've had 2 fail since around 2002 - 2 out of the 9 i've ever owned have died.
I much prefer more smaller cards to fewer larger ones.

killcrazy · Jul 8, 2007

i currently have 2 x 2Gb Toshiba cards
1x2Gb Play.com ultra cheapo "i only bought this cos i needed one desperatly" card, and 1x2Gb Sandisk extreme III

basically, i shoot with 2Gb cards, Large enough to shoot lots of pics in one go without changing (purely cos im lazy)
but small enough so that i can "afford" to lose one, and not lose too many photos,

generally ill fill one in a night/days shooting, then use a differnet one the next day, so that iv got the hard copy of the photos on my PC, and still on a card for a least a few days if something happens to my PC.

Lars Leber · Jul 8, 2007

I usually just use one 8GB card. It is very convenient and I never had any problems. I have some older cards (4GB, 2GB, 1GB) that get used only when the 8GB card is full ... it does not happen very often.

jstuedle · Jul 8, 2007

Something not mentioned that I thought I would through out there. For a while I resisted replacing my 512 meg cards with larger ones. I found the 512 the right size for transferring to CD's. I believe that a burned CD has a longer shelf life than a DVD if for no other reason than the bit density is lower. a full 512 will almost fill a 640 or 700 meg CD. My workflow used to include burning to a CD before downloading the files to my computer. I am still a little uneasy about skipping this step first in the workflow process. JMHO

And Lars, how long have you been using that 8 gig card? Do you ever shoot for money? It's been my experience that when you most depend on a piece of equipment, is when it will let you down. I think it's a sub-chapter requirement of Murphy's Law.

Garbz · Jul 8, 2007

Use common sense. Data can still be recovered from a dead card, but can no longer be written to it. If you are a pro you should probably use 2 cards. If one dies toss the other one in. If you do really mission critical work you should replace your cards every 50000 images or so.

Jon, The Elder · Jul 11, 2007

I shoot for money. My wife and I shoot horse events. depending on on the situation, we will be switching between RAW and .jpg formats on-the-fly. 4 to 6 Gb a day each. If one of us needs to borrow a card its helpful to carry a half dozen 2Gb each.

D-76 · Jul 15, 2007

My Lexar Platinum II 2GB CF card recently froze up. The camera, Rebel XT, says no images and the card reader can even access the card. Can anyone recommend recovery software or a recovery company?

Thanks.

Garbz · Jul 15, 2007

Most of our local photo labs have a service for this. A quick google turned up this list of software: http://www.ultimateslr.com/memory-card-recovery.php

Photog38 · Jul 16, 2007

Another question that I have is about the speed of memory cards. I like SanDisk and am considering the extreme III. It does not cost that much more than the ultra II, so I figured I might as well spend a few dollars more and get the faster card. Then I see that they have an extreme IV. Is the speed worth the jump in price?

Sweetsomedays · Jul 17, 2007

I have a Lexar 2gb and 4gb. They seem to be all I need for now. I told my husband the 2gb's are a good stocking stuffer though

S2K1 · Jul 17, 2007

I know UDMA enabled cards need a camera and a firewire card reader to utilize they're speed and the Extreme IV is just a few MB/s slower than the UDMA, so I don't know if you need the firewire reader to utilize it. I'm probably going to stick with Extreme III as it's plenty fast downloading and works fine shooting 5fps RAW+JPEG.